


In the Hands of Hojo

by SephyAthredon



Series: SephyAthredon Whumptober 2020 [10]
Category: Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: Cloud Hurt, Darkfic, Experimentation, Gen, Hojo being evil, Hurt No Comfort, Injections, Needles, Poison, Prompt number 11, Restraint, Struggling, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-04
Updated: 2020-11-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:27:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27377935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SephyAthredon/pseuds/SephyAthredon
Summary: Hojo captures the party as they try to find a way out of the drum. Cloud ends up being one of Hojo's experiments while the others are forced to merely watch it all happen. An Entry for Whumptober under the prompt "Struggling".
Relationships: Aerith Gainsborough & Barret Wallace, Aerith Gainsborough & Cloud Strife, Cloud Strife & Barret Wallace, Tifa Lockhart & Barret Wallace, Tifa Lockhart & Cloud Strife
Series: SephyAthredon Whumptober 2020 [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1992352
Kudos: 36





	In the Hands of Hojo

**Author's Note:**

> ((I have been wanting to write this one for a while! This is a very dark fic and contains mentions of needles and injections. I may continue this if people want me to, but I’m not sure where I would go from here. Also, I didn't realize until the end that I left Red out of the story almost completely despite it taking place during a time where he was with the party.))

Barret was the first to wake. Getting to his feet quickly, he brandished his gun arm, ready to shoot. He looked around, quickly spotting the bulletproof barrier that stretched out in front of him, the same kind he had shot at earlier, when he had tried to put an end to Hojo.

He took a moment to look beyond the glass and let out a gasp at what he saw.

Cloud was there, on the other side of the barrier, restrained to one of the chairs they had seen when they fought the brainpots. He hadn’t woken up yet. Professor Hojo stood next to him, grinning.

“Cloud!” Barret shouted, shooting at the barrier, directly at Hojo. It was no use, it didn’t even scratch it. Just as Barret stopped, he became aware of other people waking up behind him. Aerith and Tifa stood up, looking around in confusion. They both seemed to see Cloud and Hojo at the same time, as they gasped almost in unison.

“Cloud!” They both called out his name and Tifa immediately began punching the glass in front of her. Barret took a moment to look at the layout of the room some more, noticing that it was a small one, divided only by the barrier with no visible exits on their side. 

“Ah, so you’re finally awake, and here I thought you were going to waste my precious time.” Hojo finally spoke, his tone smug and self-assured.

“Just what are you gonna do to Cloud!?” Barret asked, using his gun arm to punch the barrier, his teeth gritted together and his expression one of hatred.

“Why don’t you be patient and see?” Hojo moved to the monitor that stood to the side of the chair and flipped it on, staring at each of the arms that surrounded the chair for a moment. Near the monitor there was a table, on wheels so it could easily be moved, that was full of different things, none of which Barret could really identify. He just knew that several of them were bottles, likely for injections.

Hojo looked them over for a moment before he finally chose one. He moved to block their view of Cloud, so that he was the only person the other party members were looking at. He presented the bottle, It was brown with a white label and not much else. “Does anyone know what this is, perhaps?”

“We’re not going to play any of your games anymore!” Tifa shouted, continuing to punch at the wall.

“No? Well then, what about you, miss Ancient?” He gave a wicked smile, showing the bottle to Aerith. This was the perfect way to break her, mentally.

“I… I don’t know. Just, don’t hurt Cloud. I’ll… be your test subject forever if I have to… just leave him alone.”

At that, Hojo cackled, “I already have all of you in my custody, why would I ever agree to those terms? You mistake me for a fool.” Then he laid his eyes on Barret, “What about you? Any idea what this is?”

“No, but knowin’ you, It’s some kinda poison.” Barret’s voice was seething with hatred as he spoke.

“Correct! I didn’t expect you of all people to get it.”

“What’s that supposed to mean!?” Barret shouted, banging his arm against the barrier once more.

Hojo didn’t answer, instead he addressed the room again, “This is a very rare poison with a name I won’t even attempt to pronounce because the significance of it would probably be lost on the three of you. Anyway, I’ve tested this many times on various subjects, some of which were mere shinra grunts, some were monsters.”

“The humans I tested it on felt immense pain, they told me it felt like they were being torn apart atom by atom, within ten minutes of the injection, they died. The monsters were largely resistant to it, though they did feel some pain. However, I’ve never tested it on a SOLDIER before. It’s more noticeable when they go missing.”

Realization slowly donned on the group.

“Hell no! You ain’t putting that stuff in Cloud!” Barret backed up, firing bullets into the barrier again. It had to have a weak point, sooner or later, it had to give way. Barret prayed it was sooner than later.

Tifa followed Barret’s lead, continuing to punch. Aerith watched Hojo, horrified at the implication. She looked back at Cloud, and was startled by the fact that his eyes were open and he was looking back at her. 

He was awake, and he had likely just heard everything that Hojo said.

As Hojo approached, Cloud looked up at him, defiance clear on his face, “You won’t get away with this.” He used his SOLDIER strength to try and wrench himself free from the chair, twisting his arms and legs at odd angles to see if there was a way he could possibly slip through, he did this as Hojo moved to the arm with the needle attached to it. He seemed busy for the moment.

“Just keep it up, Tifa” Said Barret from the other side of the room, “This wall’s going to break, soon. I can feel it. We’re gonna get Cloud out of there.” 

Despite saying this, Barret could only watch helplessly as the arm moved, getting closer and closer to Cloud’s arm which was restrained at both the wrist and upper arm, likely to prevent him from moving around too much during the injection.

Cloud closed his eyes as he felt the cold needle press into warm flesh on his arm. His struggling picked up to a feverish pace, as did his teammates’ attempts to break free. Aerith joined in, hitting the barrier with her staff, a panicked look on her face. 

Tifa stopped once the needle came back out, empty, pressing her hands and face to the glass and calling Cloud’s name, tears falling down her cheeks.

Barret kept going, seeing nothing but red as he alternated between shooting the glass and pounding on it with his arm or his human fist.

Hojo stepped back over to the monitor, likely to record any observations made during the experiment.

Cloud had gone still as soon as the needle was pulled out, ceasing his struggling. His head was tilted up and his breaths were shallow. 

Hojo grinned once more, “Lets see once and for all what SOLDIER really is. Man or Monster?” Of course Hojo was the only one who knew the truth about Cloud, but it was too easy to mess with him.

“You asshole!” Tifa yelled at him, resuming her punches, “Why couldn’t you just leave him alone!?”

Hojo ignored her, his eyes glued to his specimen. He certainly didn’t miss it when Cloud’s arm muscles began to twitch, or when his feet tried to kick out, despite being restrained. This wasn’t the same type of struggling as before.

“Heh, very interesting. Seems you are a human after all, or maybe somewhere in between?” Hojo spoke.

“Aaah!” As if on cue, Cloud let out an airy scream, his eyes opening wide. He could feel it, a warmth spreading through his body that was threatening to devour him, like fire.

The scream stopped the members of his group in their tracks, like clockwork. They watched on in horror as Cloud arched his back up out of the seat and screamed, louder this time. Once he was done, he slumped back down, exhausted already.

Barret focused his gaze from Cloud to the barrier he had been hitting, noticing that light cracks had appeared, “Tifa, Aerith, we’re almost there!” He continued trying to break it once more.

Hojo hadn’t heard them at all, effectively blocking out anything that didn’t have to do with his experiment. It no longer mattered the Cloud’s teammates were there. He continued to observe as Cloud’s symptoms got worse. The SOLDIER’s mouth was open, but no scream came this time, only small noises of pain. Cloud mumbled things to himself incoherently.

Hojo barely caught the sound of breaking glass, and it was enough to break him out of the trance he was in. He glanced over at the barrier only to find it gone. Barret’s gun was now pointed at his face. Hojo smiled, even despite the position he was in, and pressed a button on the monitor. Seemingly out of nowhere, a few of Hojo’s specimens attacked the party, allowing Hojo to get away.

“Good luck trying to cure him.” He taunted from the elevator he had escaped to, “I doubt you’re smart enough to figure out which is the antidote.” 

“Dammit!” Barret shouted, shooting at Hojo and barely missing. Instead, he turned his attention to the four specimens that were around him. 

“Tifa and I have got this! Aerith, See if you can help Cloud!” Barret didn’t wait for an answer. He punched the nearest one with his gun, and then started shooting at it.

Aerith didn’t give an answer, she just started looking for something that might have seemed like an antidote among the bottles that Hojo had brought down. She had no clue where to even start. If she put the wrong thing in Cloud’s body, then he could feel even worse pain, It could cause him to die quicker, so she really didn’t want to just go with a guess.

And then there were the noises Cloud made. His back arched once more off of the chair and screams were dragged from his throat. His arms and legs shook and tears were forced from his eyes, dribbling down his cheeks.

Somewhere in the back of Cloud’s mind, he feels like he’s had to deal with pain like this before. The pain of a substance burning through his body. Perhaps he’d been caught in the flames when Sephiroth burned down his hometown? He didn’t know and his brain was too fuzzy to really work. He could barely make out the form of Aerith through his blurred vision.

“Ah… Aerith! It burns… It burns so much…” His voice was thick with pain, “f-feels like I’m being t-torn ap-art…” He tried to stop another scream from being ripped from him, but he failed. Aerith looked up at him with sad eyes.

“It’ll stop soon Cloud, we’ll get you out of there, we’ll find the antidote, I promise.” she went back to reading the labels of each bottle. They hadn’t gotten a name, but they had gotten the clue that it was very hard to pronounce. she went over to the arm that Hojo had put the poison bottle into and fished it out, reading the name on the label, then she went back over to the others, comparing bottles. She was looking for something with the name of the poison and then the word ‘antidote’. That was the best way she could think of to go about the situation.

Cloud’s cries of pain spurred her on, but she knew she had to keep herself from making hasty decisions. She forced herself to slow down so she could read the labels despite her shaking hands and teary eyes.

Once Barret and Tifa were done fighting, Aerith had narrowed it down to three bottles that included the same words that were on the poison one. 

“We gotta get Cloud outta here. Hojo’s likely going to send more trouble our way.” Barret spoke up. “Did you find the antidote yet?”

“I’m trying.” Aerith’s voice was shaky and full of emotion.

Barret’s expression turned soft, It was obvious that she was scared of losing Cloud, as much as the rest of them were. “Lemme see.” He picked up the bottles Aerith had narrowed down and examined each of the labels, comparing them to the one for the poison.

Tifa, meanwhile, was by Cloud’s side, brushing her hands gently through his hair and trying not to cry as she caught sight of him struggling to get out of the chair, as she heard his cries of pain. She reached down and placed one hand over Cloud’s.

“I’m here Cloud. The pain will stop soon, I promise.” She spoke softly, letting some of her concern slip through. She was surprised when Cloud opened his eyes and looked up at her.

“T-Tiiifffa…” The SOLDIER eyes that met her red ones were glazed over with pain, but it seemed like he could still speak, though his voice was weak, “T-Tifa… remember the -ah!- the night we spent un… ngh.. under the stars in n-nib-n-”

“Save your strength Cloud. You can tell me when you get through this. You will get through this.” Tifa’s hand squeezed Cloud’s a little tighter. The only thing the man replied with was a small nod.

A growl from Barret interrupted them, he was clearly getting frustrated, “We’re wasting time by doing this, Cloud could die at any moment. I’m goin’ with this one.” He snatched up one of the bottles and a syringe, approaching Cloud.

“Barret! You can’t just guess!” Aerith replied in an alarmed tone of voice.

“Tryin’ to figure it out aint gettin’ us nowhere. We have a one in three chance and my gut is telling me that this here is the right one.” He set the bottle down on the smaller tray next to the table and grabbed the syringe, filling it up to the recommended amount.

Just as Barret was about to give Cloud the injection, The SOLDIER’s body erupted into spasms that shook him and caused him to loudly cry out.

“Dammit! Tifa! Hold him still! I don’t want to mess this up!”

She nodded and took her hands away from Cloud’s hair and hand to place them on his shoulders. She made eye contact with him as she did.

Aerith stood a few feet away from the chair, letting them to their work, but her eyes were glued to Cloud.

The blonde let out an involuntary whimper as cold metal pierced his skin once more. A wave of silence swept over the room as the substance was injected into his veins as Cloud’s spasms died down. Barret, Tifa, and Aerith were all holding their breath.

For a while, Cloud was still. His eyes were closed and his breathing still shallow. Slowly, it began to even out. They waited for Cloud to open his eyes, only to realize that he had passed out. They all breathed a collective sigh of relief.

“See, what did I tell you? Don’t underestimate the power of a gut reaction.” Barret replied with a smile, clearly trying to lighten the mood. He quickly got to work breaking Cloud out of his restraints, until Tifa approached with the keys that Hojo had left behind in his haste. With a nervous chuckle, he took the keys and unlocked the cuffs on his side before giving them to Tifa so she could do the same.

Gently, Barret picked Cloud up. It was awkward since he only had one hand, but he was able to do it. Cloud’s head rested on his human arm while his legs went over the gun one. 

“Awright, let’s get to the roof. There’s a helicopter waiting to take us home.”

Aerith and Tifa both nodded

“Wait…” Aerith looked around for a few moments, “We have to get Red back.”

Barret looked around as well, letting out a curse, “There’s nothing we can do for him if he was taken back down, we gotta look after our own skins. The rescue mission was supposed to be for you, remember?”

Aerith nodded, “Hopefully he evaded Hojo and is somewhere on this level.” She started heading out the door.

“Who knows, I don’t even know if that bastard, Hojo would even let us go up. He could keep us here for all eternity.” Barret said.

Tifa didn’t reply, just stuck close to Barret and Cloud.

“Oh, right. One more thing.” Barret replied, turning on his heel, “Sorry Cloud, I gotta do this.” He adjusted Cloud so the man was over his shoulder and held out his gun arm, shooting up all the bottles that Hojo had lined up on the cart. He didn’t stop until every bottle had been shot through

“There, that should put a dent in Hojo’s research.” Barret kept Cloud over his shoulder as he left, after all, he would need his gun arm free for fighting off the other experiments that dwelled in the drum.


End file.
